Thousands March In Detroit To Protest Gun Violence

Protestors gathered to demand change in gun laws for the March For Our Lives

DETROIT (WWJ) - Thousands of people took to the streets in downtown Detroit Saturday chanting and carrying signs calling for stricter gun control in the March For Our Lives.

The march in Detroit -- one of an estimated 800 marches across the country Saturday to supplement the main event in Washington, D.C. -- was organized by metro Detroit high school students and supported by non-profit organizations to call for change in gun laws. The march had an emphasis on protecting the nation's youth in the wake of a number of school shootings, most notably the February shooting that left 17 people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

The march wound up at Rivard Plaza along the Detroit river, overlooking Canada, a country that many people point out as one that doesn't have nearly as much gun violence as the U.S.

“Canada doesn’t have this kind of a problem. It’s frightening," Lynn Halverson, a teacher from Birmingham, Mich., said. "What kind of people are we that we don’t want to keep our children safe?”

Halverson is urging legislators to come up with a better solution to end gun violence.

“Those who’d like to arm teachers are even more ridiculous," Halverson said. "It’s only going to make kids think that a gun is the answer to everything.”

Brooke Solomon, one of the student organizers of the event, said she hopes the march sends a strong message to legislators and politicians that millions of people across the country are demanding change and "we’re not waiting anymore.”

“So many people have showed up to support us. I’m so grateful,” Solomon said. “We’re sick and tired of being sick and tired. And we are tired of politicians routinely ignoring us and putting profit over people.”

One protestor who brought his family to the march said it is "difficult to live in a country in which children are afraid to go to school."

Another protestor, Curtis Green, said the tragedy in Parkland was a terrible thing that happened because of the current gun laws.

"They act like they love guns more than they love children," Green said. "I’m amazed at the solidarity that I see. There’s so many people out here. Just proves that we can do anything when we all come together.”